This invention relates to the recovery of metal values.
In many mining operations, the reef in the stope face is blasted or otherwise detached from the stope face and the broken ore thereafter transported to the surface for further processing and recovery of the metal values contained therein. In any operation of this nature a great deal of particulate fines remain on the footwall and in the fissures and cracks within the footwall. These particulate fines contain substantial quantities of the valuable metals being mined, particularly in the case of gold mining, where the small dense particles of gold segregate when the ore is moved. Some of these particle fines are collected by sweeping or by use of suction means. However this is not always possible in old abandoned stopes.